<p>Is it a better idea to visit 20 schools now before applying (between junior and senior year) or to wait until you see where you are accepted and then visit during spring break? Is there any point in falling in love with a school you might not get into?</p>
<p>Pros and cons to visiting over the summer - more difficult to get a real fell for the place, but you have more time and can eliminate so you don't apply to 20 schools. Realize that many schools will not send acceptances until April 1. That is after Spring Break for most kids. So, along with finals, prom, graduation, AP tests, papers, etc., you are trying to find the time to go visit how many schools while going to school yourself? I would advise going in the summer for preliminary elimination, then you can go back at the beginning of the fall, a day here, a day there, and visit the ones you really would consider attending. Spring Break may or may not be good - is the school on break, as well? There are accepted students' weekends in April that you should attend for your top choices, and make your decision by May 1.</p>
<p>I would saying speaking personally, I had waited till after I had been accepted to colleges to visit, but what troubled me was that I only had a month to decide and I had lost a week since I was away to Spain, so that when I finally visited the colleges this year, I had gone, oh, about 1 1/2 weeks before the may 1st deadline. Luckily for me, however, I had an epiphany and realized that overall a school w/ any dominant greek life just wasn't for me making my decision really easy. Nonetheless, though I worry that i made my decision on a whim, I think generally I made the best decision possible. Thus, I recommend to visit the schools before you apply, thus you can get a feel (even if class isn't in session) to see what type of college you would feel most comfortable in (i.e. Big school v. small school; urban v. rural; LAC's v. everything else). So good luck :)</p>
<p>What we did was something between the 2 extremes of visiting 20 schools before applying and visiting none until D got in. She decided to visit a few, and made sure to do this while the schools were in session. We saw a couple of small, a couple of urban, some large, and some State. After this, she evaluated and came up with the type of schools she wanted to apply to----mid-sized (5000 - 10000), not rural, not State, etc. </p>
<p>It's really hard to visit every school before you apply, so do a sampling of different types. Then maybe wait for acceptances. If any EA acceptances come in December, visit those first, and then see what comes through in April. It's possible that a year from now your S/D will not be interested in some of the acceptances.</p>
<p>Visiting early is probably a good idea. We could not afford to do that, so my son visited his top 4 colleges after acceptance. That saved money, since he applied to colleges all over the country, and it would have been difficult to visit all of them. Visiting them all in a short period of time worked for him, as he could do an easier comparison that way--same time of year, etc. It may not be ideal to visit when decisions must be made so quickly, but it can work.</p>
<p>Visiting 20 schools - no, why should you? Visiting 4-6? Definitely.</p>
<p>I'm a big proponent of visits, I think they should start early - sophomore year isn't too early, particularly with kids at either end of the spectrum - the less than motivated and the potential Ivy Leaguers. But by visits I don't mean intense, in-depth evaluations, I mean low key sampling. An ideal way to do this can be a visit with an older sibling or good friend, because that may allow an overnight dorm stay.</p>
<p>I wouldn't worry so much about sampling schools that are definitely "on the list", just go for the widest variety of size and location that you can. Visit close to home or combine the visits with other vacations or trips. Do a couple of info sessions, take the tour, and walk around for an hour or so - that's plenty. After about 4 short visits, you should get a feeling for whether your child is going to need to physically see a school before applying, or if they will be happy with visiting after acceptance. They also should have some likes and dislikes in terms of size and location. Twenty schools are a lot of applications, so if the list can be limited, the overall success may be greater - 20 is a good starting number, because kids change their minds a lot over that last 18 months, and that big state school may start looking better, or they want nursing, or maybe they realize they want to go farther from home, etc.</p>
<p>Finally, I would do a formal visit during fall of senior year to any schools being considered for an ED application - there are no second chances on those.</p>
<p>I have visited about a half-dozen schools with my daughter, and I think it's valuable.</p>
<p>But she will probably apply to a few places that we didn't visit as well.</p>
<p>If your kid is considering a school that's in any way unusual (extremely big, extremely small, highly specialized), it's probably good to visit it. Or if the school is an an environment that's really different from what your kid is used to, it's a good idea to go there (I wouldn't want a kid from a rural environment to apply to Columbia without actually having been to New York City, for example). But I don't know how many conventional schools in ordinary places you really need to look at. After a while, it all sort of blurs together anyway.</p>
<p>We are visiting 3 of my son's top choices this spring, with the balance in the Fall. We will probably only visit 5 or 6 schools in all, though my son has experience at a few other campuses, due to participation in various music seminars, leadership conferences, etc. Depending upon acceptances, and whether or not there is a clear "winner", we will revisit those still in the running next April.</p>
<p>I think it is good to get a sense of some of the colleges before summer, so that your son or daughter can get some first hand impressions of colleges as they contemplate those they wish to pursue.</p>
<p>I think the best scenario is to start visiting fall of junior year, squeezing in a day here and there when the colleges are open, and continuing through late April. Once you have hit May, you might as well call them summer visits because most colleges are having finals or graduations. My kids had a hard time picturing campus culture during summer visits without the students there. That said, sometimes that's all you can do. For my son the visits were extremely important because what he thought he wanted (anywhere, very technical) turned out to be the opposite of the kind of school he applied to; small LAC. The college he will be attending is one that he had not seen before he applied but he had seen enough of that type to know it would probably work.</p>
<p>My dh and I have been having this argument all along. What finally won him over to looking at at least some colleges ahead of time were two arguments.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>I wanted my son to realize that even though he plans to spend all his time in front of a computer there are things that will affect him none the less. For example: food on campus, what the other kids are like, distance between classes, and whether housing is guaranteed.</p></li>
<li><p>It's pretty hard to apply early decision somewhere if you haven't visited it.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>even if you dont visit the colleges that you are going to apply to, i think it is invaluable to see some of the colleges near where you live so there is some sort of baseline that can be referred to (i.e. "School A had xyz that looked really neat, but i really hated the idea of abc")</p>
<p>My advice for parents of HS sophmores would be to plan visits for next fall and during spring vacation. Junior year is a tough one. Spring visits are esp difficult because of APs, SATs/ACTs, upcoming SAT2s, Regents, finals, sports, etc. (I don't know how these kids do it -- what a switch from the 70's...) Will probably see a couple more in the early fall before school gets crazy again. S. is planning on applying to his 1st choice early decision. If he is rejected or waitlisted, we will get on the road again -- we've been putting off some of the longer trips...</p>
<p>I am also a proponent of a limited number of visits. Another factor to a student's favor with some colleges/universities is that you are showing "demonstrated interest" in that institution when you visit. Especially for the colleges/universities you may consider a match/reach and that like demonstrated interest, be sure you that the Admissions Office knows that you and your daughter visited. Also, if you and your d meet with an Admissions person, get his/her name and then have your d e-mail the Admissions person thanking her/him for the talk when you get back.</p>
<p>That is a good point about showing an interest. I now have a list for my son of 25 schools. Many are public. There are only 7-8 LACs (I'm learning the terms) that are a good fit. I want him to limit the number he applies to as it's expensive. His cousin applied to something like 18 schools and got so many acceptances it was hard to pick a school. They were all over the country so she had to travel to visit on spring break which was not a good situation. Those admissions all came in by early March. If he can limit the number in advance to schools with a higher likelihood of admission and also eliminate those he wouldn't go to no matter what happens, wouldn't that be better?</p>
<p>My D and I did a summer visit to several schools (6) in a particular area. What that did was to help her definitely eliminate some choices. By the time November rolled around and applications were being done, she still had no idea where she wanted to go, but did know what she wanted in a school and what she didn't want. She ended up adding a few she had not seen at this point. When she got in to them she decided to visit all those she had not yet seen (3). She ended up choosing one of those. </p>
<p>One thing I observed with both my kids is that the junior child is very different from the senior child, and to take it a step further, the kid who applies to schools in November, can be a very different kid who decides on those acceptances in April. So my advice, allow room for change and be flexible. It's a growing experience.</p>
<p>Despite scheduling issues and the cost of travel, visiting schools during the spring vacation junior year is really worthwhile. Most colleges seem to be on a different schedule than HSs and your kid can stay in a dorm (that means you don't have to shell out for an etxra hotel rm!) and sit in on classes, get a really good sense of place. Many kids are in a state of woozy denial even by then, and who can blame them--the college apps hype is horrid--but just a couple of visits can help make the process more real and more manageable to them; some kids just need a jump-start. </p>
<p>More visits increases the chances they will actually apply to good matches. Feeling comfortable on a campus and getting a sense of what kind of students go there is huge. Applying to 20 schools you know little about just feeds the frenzy and contributes to the absurd no. of overall apps. This contributes to kids' conviction that the whole process is random (not exactly true, but the more inappropriate apps a college has to sift thru the less time they have to look seriously at their prospects) and only adds to some of the discouragement kids feel just when they need to think positively and be clear-headed in November and January of senior year. </p>
<p>One big advantage of visiting early is the possibility of finding a great match school that your kid might want to apply to Early Decision. This means a better chance for acceptance and the possibility of less stress during the RD time. Some schools offer ED2, which is great for 11th hour decisions. Really wanting a school for good reasons counts for a lot at some schools; they are looking for a good fit just as much as kids are.</p>
<p>Visiting schools gives kids a handle and a way to evaluate other schools. They learn what questions to ask, what matters to them, and so on at subsequent visits or during presentations by schools they aren't able to visit. Anything you can do to help your kids "own" this process is a good thing.</p>
<p>Our oldest son is a sophomore in college and his application process was fairly painless and productive but the one regret we have is not visiting all his potential schools well before he applied. </p>
<p>Over the past 5-10 years, we visited the colleges our son was most interested in - for football games, reunions, or because we thought they might be good colleges to attend someday. We mistakenly thought that visiting campuses was to let the student decide whether he wanted to attend, but we found that campus visits are also important because they let the college know your student is interested. Our son was waitlisted at 2 colleges because (we were told) they did not feel he was sufficiently interested since he had not made an official visit. I suppose they were partially correct because it wasn't his first-choice college, but they were his second- and third-choice schools so it could have been a real problem.</p>
<p>Think of it this way: Campus visits are not only your way to learn more about the school but also the way for you to let the college know you are serious. And when you do make a visit, always check in at the appropriate campus office and let them know you took the time to visit.</p>
<p>It's nearly impossible to cram all the college visits into April of senior year, and it becomes far too confusing. Most schools have their "Accepted Students Week" during one of two weeks in April, avoiding Easter weekend and the final week of the month, so a student has to choose which schools to visit at the last minute, or perform a mad (and expensive) dash around the country, with little time to let his/her impressions sink in.</p>
<p>Your child needs time to process what being a college student is all about. Reactions to a first visit could be anywhere from non-stop complaints to falling in love, but many just seem indifferent. Learning how to evaluate a school and find a good match takes time. Don't start too late.</p>
<p>I noticed schools have fall tour or family visit days. That may be the best way to visit. I'm also planning some summer visits, too, so he can see what the campus looks like. He is not going to apply to 20 schools. He's just starting to show some interest. I've been reading websites, and I've noticed some schools have very complete sites, with everything you could want to know listed on them, and others don't have much information at all.</p>
<p>At our school the counselors usually talk about visiting in the Spring of junior year which works unless your child has an EC that is primarily in the Spring. My daughter was in the marching band, then did the fall drama and the Spring musical. We had waited until Spring of her junior year to do any visits and felt pretty pressured by the fall when it was time to apply to colleges, not do first time visits. With my son we found that by starting in late summer/ early fall of junior year we were able to find enough days before the school year ended to see quite a few schools.</p>